The red flower

The Red FlowerBy Andrew Roberts

Friday, October 18, 13

To my friends Lauren and Zack

Copyright 2013 Andrew Roberts Text design by Andrew Roberts

Illustrations by Andrew Roberts with regards to Markus Persson and Mojang

Roberts Books, Inc., 55 N 22nd Street, Phila., PA 19103


Jerry the calf munched on the grass in the field. It was really yummy, but sometimes he wished he had something else to eat. He lived in the pasture on a farm, and it was really fun with all the other calves, but it was only a little space. Jerry wished he could go outside of the pasture, but his parents, Mama Cow and Papa Cow, wouldn’t let him go anywhere near the fence. Mama Cow called it “sparkly”, but Jerry didn’t know what that meant. He just didn’t go near the fence

Jerry the calf munched on the grass in the field. It was really yummy, but sometimes he wished he had something else to eat. He lived in the pasture on a farm, and it was really fun with all the other calves, but it was only a little space. Jerry wished he could go outside of the pasture, but his parents, Mama Cow and Papa Cow, wouldn’t let him go anywhere near the fence. Mama Cow called it “sparkly”, but Jerry didn’t know what that meant. He just didn’t go near the fence


He and the other calves loved to run around the pasture chasing each other. They loved to eat, even though it did get boring after a while. When they got tired of the taste, they had farting contests. Bobby usually won those. His farts were always the loudest and smelled the worst.


One rainy day, Bobby decided to go on a walk for a while. He was gone most of the day, and he came back so excited that all of the other calves ran over to him immediately, curious. “Guys, you see those red flowers?”, Bobby said. “They taste really good and make you feel amazing! There’s a big patch over there, come try some!”


It was close to night time, but the calves didn’t care, even though they were supposed to be sleeping. All of them followed. Jerry was so excited to have a new food to eat, he was one of the first to the patch. They all munched happily away for a long time.

Bobby was right: the flowers did taste very good. In fact, they made Jerry feel so amazing he was a little worried. It didn’t seem natural to feel that good. He seemed to be the only one who felt that way though. The other calves were running around with excitement. “I feel so good I think I could jump over the moon!”, one of them exclaimed.


It was almost day again when Jerry realized he was full, and decided to take a break. Almost immediately he started to feel hungry and sick. He ate another flower, and the feeling went away, replaced with the amazing feeling he had had before.


The next morning, he talked it over with Mama Cow and Papa Cow. “I’m scared, Mama.” “It’s OK, honey, I understand. I think you made the right decision on not eating the flowers. Try not to do it, it could end up badly. That queasy feeling you talked about gets me worried.” “You made a very mature decision, Jerry.”, Papa Cow added. “Your mother and I will talk to all the other cows about it tomorrow.”


The other calves seemed to be having so much fun eating the flowers, though. It was hard for Jerry not to follow them. They were having a much better time than him, and Jerry was tired of being alone all the time. They even teased him for not eating the flowers. “Think it’s gonna make you sick or something?”, one of them asked, and they all laughed.

“Have fun by yourself!”, Bobby said. “Come on guys, let’s get away from this loser.” They all went away, going back to the flower patch.


But things quickly got worse. The other calves’ parents were complaining that they didn’t get to see their kids at all. They were always at the flower patch, never anywhere else. They didn’t even come back to sleep at night, but spent all of their time, rain or shine, eating flowers.

?


Then, Jerry realized that, when he went to visit them, they were acting weird. They were limping from one flower to the other, and were not interested in Jerry at all. When they did talk to him, it was in a slow and bored tone. Most of the time, they just ignored him, focused on the next flower.


There was something else too: they were running out of flowers. There were only 50 or so left when Jerry visited that time. That would only last the hungry calves a day or so. Jerry wondered what would happen when there were no more flowers. Probably nothing good.Friday, October 18, 13

His question was answered the next day. The calves staggered back to the cows’ favorite sleeping place the next day. They looked like they had been in a fight. “What happened?” , one of their mothers asked, worriedly. “No more flowers.” Bobby said. “Do you know of more?”

“But why are you hurt?” “Last flower. Want more.” , another calf answered. “Want . . . more . . . now.” The calves staggered off again. Something was very, very wrong. Jerry followed to see if he could do anything.


All of the sudden, there were screams of delight from the crowd of calves. They had found more flowers. But there was a catch: the flowers were outside the fence. The calves didn’t even pause, but ran toward the fence. “Guys, no! The fence is sparkly! It will hurt you if you touch it!” , Jerry yelled at them.


But it was no good. Jerry watched in horror as the calves threw themselves against the fence. There was a loud “kZAP!” and the calves jumped back off the fence, smoking. The adult cows rushed to their children. Thankfully, they were alright. In fact, some of them seemed to be coming to their senses.


“Why in the world did I do that?” , Bobby said, worried. “How could I be so stupid? Mama Cow and Papa Cow have told me not to go near the fence, but I still did it!” “It was those flowers!” , another said. “It didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t stop myself from eating more. Look what that did to me!” “I’ll never eat them ever again!” , Bobby said, and all of the other cows agreed with him.

??


“We’re glad you are alright.” , said one of the cows, “We were very, very worried about you guys for awhile. Tell you what, let’s go back and have some dinner of some nice, sweet, grass. Come on!” All the calves groaned, but followed their parents, happy to be back.


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The red flower